What a long, strange trip it is

I started in radio 'bout 10 years ago(my early radio daZe). One of my main 'issues' was this area's 'love' of then congressman-Jim Traficant. I refered to Jim as "mob-connected,corrupt, an embarassment and ,ineffective...", etc.

I was told-repeatedly-(among other things) that Jim was "beloved" "reveared and respected" in Washington,D.C.

No,I didn't believe it. Regular listeners know the rest 'o the story. I --live on air-- called a number of media folks from The Washington Post to U.S. News and World Report asking " what's your reaction to the name Congrressman James A Traficant ,Jr of the 17th District of Ohio? " . I got a lot of responses - none said "beloved" "reveared" or "respected"

Ok,Ok,so, last week I received a letter from a friend that I haven't spoken with for nearly FOURTY years !!!

Here is most of his letter :

I spent 13 years in Washington, worked for Reagan and Dole in the late 80's-- since Traficant was elected in 1983, he was universally seen in Washington as a lightweight--a buffoon. Louie, EVERY time I mentioned I was from Youngstown to ANYONE, they would bring up Traficant and laugh. He had absolutely no respect in DC. Especially not from his own party, who wisely put him on the Post Office committee--a well-known dead-end committee for those members known to be ineffective.

He did NOTHING for this city. Look at the difference between him and, say, Jack Murtha from Pennyslvania. Say what you like about Murtha, but look at what he has done for his district.

Traficant was just hot air--his shtick was aimed at the poor, unfortunate (and uneducated) blue collar men and women of our parent's generation who worked in the mills that eventually threw them out. The people who watched their mills be torn down and cut up for scrap. I still remember the night on the evening news, when I was living in Virginia, and they showed one of the Youngstown mills getting blown up. I hung my head for this city, amongst the laughs of my friends. That was where my dead father worked. And Traficant has just tapped into this artery and drew from it. He's a taker, not a giver.

I worked on the Hill in Washington, and I know the cramped spaces, long,long hours, and low pay for what the staffers do. Traficant says he's for the people of this city. But when he had authority over some of the children of his supporters, what did he do, him alone among 435 members of the House? He stole from them--defenseless kids, just out of college and eager to work for change in Washington, what did he do? Stole from them. What did that do, you think, to their idealism, their desire to work for the better?

The poor, naive supporters of Traficant, claiming he was set up, who don't believe the MOUNTAIN of evidence that was produced against him, who support him nonetheless, are in my eyes the moral equivalent of Holocaust deniers. Blind because they wish to be.

I would absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE to see him run for Senate, as some are urging. He will NEVER EVER do it, because he knows that outside of the mindset of this Valley, he has no backing--his reputation is on an equal footing with Clarabell. He is happiest here, now, where he has no responsibility, can just mouth off in front of the cameras he so desperately craves. Running for Senate would be the one thing he fears, next to ignoring him, most of all--complete humiliation. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, ladies and gentlemen.

The CNN article about his homecoming event said the most important thing, in passing actually, about Traficant's backers--they are all old. His most ardent supporters, one by one, are listed every day in the Vindicator's obituary pages. God please be merciful to them. Thank heavens for a new generation, coming of voting age now, who only know of his humiliation.

All he can do is talk. His fate is sealed here in the Valley. If he runs for either Congress seat, he won't even get the nomination. Running as an Independent, he wouldn't even draw away enough votes to tip the scale to the GOP. In his spleen, he knows this.

He can talk all he wants now, but he is well and truly on the hook. And all the better for our wonderful region....

...What a long, strange trip it's been.

thanks Robert.

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